13-year-old hiker missing in Kings Canyon

Austin Shedd, 13, went missing in Kings Canyon National Park after he got separated from the group he was hiking with. (Photo: Courtesy National Parks Service)

Authorities are looking for a boy who went missing in Kings Canyon National Park on Sunday afternoon.

The 13-year-old, Austin Shedd, and his father, both from Mammoth Lakes (Mono County), along with a family friend, had hiked about eight hours into the back country, according to the Mammoth Times.

The boy’s mother, who stationed herself in Independence, a small town west of the park to wait for information, told the Mammoth Times that the trio was hiking from Arrow Peak to Bench Lake in a remote area of Kings Canyon when the elder Shedd stopped to make sandwiches around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Making lunch only took a few minutes, but when Shedd’s father finished the boy was gone.

The elder Shedd and his friend searched for the boy for three and a half hours before the boy’s father decided to make the eight-hour trek back to Owens Valley for help while the family friend stayed behind to continue looking for the teen.

Shedd is described as 5-foot-3 and 110 pounds with blue eyes and light brown hair. He has braces and was wearing a green hat when he was last seen.

Anyone with information is urged to call Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks at (888) 677-2746.

Shedd went missing in the general vicinity of Arrow Peak in Kaings Canyon National Park (Map courtesy of the National Parks Service)